Pleasure-railway structure



Jan 4, 1927. 1,613,118

J. A. MI ER' PLEA SURE RAILWAY STRUCTURE.

Filed May 25, 1925 0 MWVMI,

Patented J an. 192

JOHN A. HELLER, OZ

PLEASURE-RAILVIAY ILLINOIS.

STRUCTURE.

Application filed May 23, 1925, Serial No. 32.257.

- My invention relates to pleasure rail *ay structures and particularlyto improved 7 safety mechanisms for causing the operation to be lnorereliable and more safe es 'pecially. at the hoistingwincline where thecars arehoisted by chains or cables to the starting summit or crestpreparatory to traversing the railway structure back to the startingpoint at-A'he'station 'lilheschoisting inclines are usually very steepamlsmrt from the station loading platform and rise to a.coiisiclei'ableheight in order to the necessary potential. energy for propelling.thew-ars around the track structure. The carsare provided with ahoisrmg dog for engaging with the links of the hoisting chain tobethuspropelled to the top of the startingsummit. -The-hoistmg chains maybreak, and in order to prevent retrograde 20. movement thereof and of,cars clutched thereto, safety dogs have-been pivoted on thetrackstructure in the path of the chain, as-disclosed inmy PatentvNo.979,984, of ,DecemberwlZ, 1910. Upon breaking of the chaimthe clutch dogin the car may become detachechnnd at other times the clutch dog mightbecome detached. To guard against such happening, each car has beenprovided with a safety dog for cooperating with a detent rack secured onthe track structure. It has however happened that such safety dog wouldbe broken, or would be caught, or otherwise out of service at the verytime when it was needed and serious accidents have happened. Failure ofthe safety devices are a particularly serious matter on the hoistingincline, as there is nothing which will stop the released cars, but theywill travel back with great velocity and momentum through the stationand putting the passengers in the car and in the station in very greatdanger.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the danger ofescape of a car on the hoisting incline and to accomplish this each caris provided with a detent rack rigidly and permanently secured to theunder side of the car, and along the track and at intervals shorter thanthe rack length on the cars, safety dogs are pivoted to catch and holdthe cars in case any of the other safety devices should fail. As it isvery improbable that a series of consecutive dogs will fail to function,an accidentally released car will he caught and held by one of the dogshefore it will have time to acquire any dz sous momentum.

1/11 the d swingswhich 1llustrate my invention and its application,

i ig. 1 is a side elevational view of a car and the track structure;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational. view ofthc car partly in section and thetrack strnctiu'e partly in section: and

11" ig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of. one of the safety dog structuresforming part of my invention.

The 'ar C the wheels engaging the ail structures 11 which are mounted onthe ties 12. The rail structures have the sides and under rail surfaces13. and 1 L, respectiveiy, for engagement by the horizontal and verticalsafety rollers 15 and 16, respectively, which limit the lateral andvertical play of the car while traveling rapidly over, the railstructures.

Extending along the, under side of the car is a channel beam structure17 in which is supported the clutch dog 18 and the safety dog 19. Theclutch dog 18 cooperates with. the hoisting chain 20 to hoist the cartothe top of the starting incline, and the dog 19 cooperates with thedetent cross bars 21 of the rack structure 22. The hoisting chain isguided in a runway formed by the angle bars 23, and these runway partsand the rack structure 22 are mounted on beam structures 2st which aresupported on the ties 12, as shown. Fig. 1 shows the track horizontal,but it is understood that in the actual railway structure this trackwill he on a steep incline along which the cars are propelled by thehoisting chain to the starting summit before starting their downwardtrip around the track structure back to the start ing station from whichthe hoisting incline starts.

The additional safety mechanism, to which I have referred, comprises adetent or rack bar 25, and the detent dogs 26. Each car is preferablyprovided on its under side with a longitudinally extending beam 27 tothe under side of which the rack 25 is secured, as by means of belts orscrews 28.

Each detent pawl 26 is pivoted intermediate its ends in a suitablesupporting frame F, which frame is securely mounted on the trackstructure to accurately hold the pawls in the path of the detent rack onthe care. As shown, the frames are held in proper vertiral position onthe ties by means of planlrs or beams 29. The pivot bolts 30 of thesafety dogs are nearer to their upper ends so that the lower ends willbe over veighted and tend to hold the detent point 26 of the dogs up inthe path of the rack teeth to be ready to interlock with the rack teethto hold the cars in case of accidental release thereof from the hoistingchains or from the rack structure 22. As the intervals between thedetent dog structures are less in length than the length of the racks onthe cars, there will always be at least one dog in engagement vith arack ready to lock the cars in case of accidental release thereof. Itmay be that one of these dogs may fail to be in proper position, but itis improbable that a .jGIlQS of such dogs will be inoperative, andtherefore in case a car is accidentally released when on the upgrade, itwill be caught by one of the dogs before it will have a chance toacquire any dangerous momentum. To prevent overthrow of. the dogs, eachframe F has the abutment 31 extending transversely below the lower endof the pawl and against which the weighted end of the pawl rests tonormally hold the detent point 26 thereof in the path of the rack on thecars.

By securing the rack permanently to the under side of the cars, and byplacing the dog structures on the. track structure, the dogs are open toinspection, lubrication and repair, and their operativeness is thusassured.

I claim 1. In a pleasure railway structure, "he combination of avertically inclined track, a vchicle traveling on said track, alongitudinal row of closely spaced detent abutments on the under side ofsaid vehicle, and deteut dogs pivoted along said track at intervals lessthan the extent of said row and project,

ing into the path of said detent abutment for engaging therewith to stopretrograde movement of said vehicle.

2. In a pleasure railway structure, the combination of a verticallyinclined track section, a vehicle traveling thereon, a detent racksecured to and extending longitudinally along the under side of saidvehicle, and the abutment teeth of said rack being close together, anddetent dogs pivoted along said track at intervals less than the lengthof a car rack and projecting into the path of the rack to cooperatetherewith to prevent retrograde movement of the cars.

3. In a pleasure railway structure, the combination of the hoistingincline, safety dogs positioned at intervals along said incline, carsadapted to be propelled up said incline, each car having a detent racksecured to its under side for cooperating with said safety dogs, and theabutment teeth on said rack being close together, the intervals betweensaid safety dogs being less than the length of a rack whereby a rackwill always be in cooperation with one. of said dogs to preventretrograde movement of the cars.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 15th day of May,1925.

JOHN A. MILLER.

